Review by Ian Keogh
The Throne of Fire is the middle volume of Rick Riordan’s Kane Chronicles trilogy of young adult magical fantasy novels, set in the a real world that can suddenly switch to the threats facing the ancient Egyptian gods, unknown to most people. The Red Pyramid introduced Carter and Sadie Kane experiencing a sea change in what they believed to be true, and revealed that what most consider ancient Egyptian mythology remains relevant.
Carter and Sadie host the spirits of Horus and Isis, enabling them to perform what’s magic by human standards, and thwarted the plans of Set, the Darth Vader of the Egyptian myths, at the same time saving their father. However, they also discover there’s a greater threat than Set, who was manipulated by Apophis, and they remain at large. Carter and Sadie have acquired allies also with mystical talents due to being descendants of pharaohs and figure the best way of dealing with the threat of Apophis is to awaken the sun god Ra, which first requires locating the three scrolls of Ra.
Young adult fantasy novels are frequently themed around quests, and Riordan’s a master of the genre, providing an appealing cast and a succession of suitably malign foes while conceiving stumbling blocks and unanticipated danger as Carter and Sadie go about their business. The novel is obviously efficiently plotted, and Orpheus Collar brings this through with his adaptation, pacing well used for maximum effect. A continuing problem is the large amounts of information about the beliefs of Ancient Egypt needing to be conveyed for things to make sense, and the sections providing it aren’t subtle. Neither is some of the foreshadowing, but the secret to that is so much action occurring between revelation of cure and needing it that there’s a fair chance most readers will have forgotten.
Collar’s art was stiff during some action scenes in The Red Pyramid, but here there’s greater fluidity, and as before he’s strong on designs, which involves a lot of work considering the number of creations that feature.
There’s massive progress from start to finish during The Throne of Fire and plenty of surprises, and a good aspect throughout is the use of the Egyptian gods. They’re haughty and largely uncompromising beings, not just there to transfer powers for the sake of it. It’s made clear that there’s been a cost to what’s been achieved, and later consequences may await.
Readers familiar with the original novel have commented online about scenes not transferred to this adaptation. However, every page added to The Throne of Fire means delaying Collar’s work on adapting the conclusion in The Serpent’s Shadow and Collar’s adaptation does read well and look good as a separate entity.
